A VICAR who once tried to spoil an Aston Villa football match by tolling his bells has been put in charge of one of Coventry's most prominent churches.

The Rev Keith Sinclair, vicar of St Peter and St Paul in Aston, Birmingham, is to be instituted as vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Broadgate, in September.

He replaces Canon David Urquhart, now Bishop of Birkenhead.

Mr Sinclair, aged 48, said: "I am impressed by the prayer ministry and the youth ministry in the church.

"When I first came to the Midlands I came to Coventry to see the mystery plays. I was impressed by the history of the city and the performance of the traditional plays in a modern industrial and multi-racial city."

After studying history at Oxford University, Mr Sinclair moved to London to study law.

While working as a lawyer in Birmingham he decided he would like to be a priest. He studied at St John's College in Durham and was ordained in 1984.

During his time at St Peter and St Paul he was chairman of a group which won a #54 million 10-year Government New Deal grant to rejuvenate the area.

He also hit the headlines in 1999 when he tolled his church bells in protest at the scheduling of a Premiership football match between Aston Villa and Chelsea on a Sunday morning at Villa Park, yards from his church.

He is married to solicitor and part-time law lecturer Rosemary. The couple have three children.